Roe v. Wade lawyer speaks to Planned Parenthood in Stamford

Rob Varnon

Published 9:32 pm, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Sarah Weddington speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Weddington is the attorney who successfully argued Roe V. Wade in the United States Supreme Court in 1973. She remains the youngest attorney to ever argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Sarah Weddington speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Weddington is the attorney who successfully argued Roe V. Wade in the United States Supreme Court in 1973. She remains the youngest attorney to ever argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Sarah Weddington speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Weddington is the attorney who successfully argued Roe V. Wade in the United States Supreme Court in 1973. She remains the youngest attorney to ever argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

Sarah Weddington speaks at the annual spring luncheon for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England at the Marriott in Stamford, Conn., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Weddington is the attorney who successfully argued Roe V. Wade in the United States Supreme Court in 1973. She remains the youngest attorney to ever argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

STAMFORD -- Sarah Weddington's voice from 41 years ago echoed into the darkened ballroom at the Stamford Marriott Wednesday as more than 550 people came to hear the woman who won the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case.

"We do not ask this court to rule that abortion is good," she said in a clip of her oral arguments before the Supreme Court in 1971, which was part of a mini-documentary projected on large screens. "We are here to advocate as to whether or not a particular woman will continue to carry or will terminate a pregnancy is a decision that should be made by that individual, that in fact, she has a constitutional right to make that decision."

When the video ended, the legal legend who stood at the podium said the group was there to "laugh, learn and lead." Weddington, the keynote speaker for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England's Spring Luncheon, discussed her role in the case that made abortion legal across the country, the fight women face on reproductive rights and the need to recruit a new generation of leaders, while slipping in some jokes and anecdotes from a career that included time as a Texas lawmaker and an adviser to President Jimmy Carter.

She described the genesis of the Roe case and her involvement in it as having an element of improbability. Approached by some women at the University of Texas who were upset with rules regarding birth control on campus, Weddington, then just out of law school, questioned whether she was the right choice for a legal challenge, noting, "I handled two uncontested divorces, a will for someone with no money and an adoption for my uncle."

But she and fellow Texas-based lawyer Linda Coffee did eventually find a client whose situation set Weddington up for one of the greatest legal battles in American history. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor on a 7-2 vote.

Looking out at the crowd of almost all women, many of whom were baby boomers, Weddington reminded them of the world they knew when they were all 18, describing it as a world of "indignities."

It was a world in which women were routinely told they couldn't do things. Weddington said. A school counselor told her she shouldn't try to go to law school because the counselor's son was doing that and it was really hard, she said. The anecdote drew laughs from the crowd.

But it's a different world today in more than one way, and Roe v. Wade remains under attack.

Weddington told the crowd that she does not expect to live long enough to see the end for the fight for reproductive rights for women, a fight that is far from over. She cited the fact that she was still talking about that one case 41 years after it was decided, and that lawmakers from multiple states try to undo it.

"I do not think we can hold Roe v. Wade in the U.S. Supreme Court," she said. Noting how times have changed politically from the 1960s and 1970s when the women's movement was in full swing.

During those years, she noted there was support from Republicans for Planned Parenthood, noting Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of presidents, was a founding member of the Connecticut chapter.

Several attendees said they were inspired by the speakers Wednesday and took the message of a need for more youth to embrace the cause.

"I wish there were more people of my generation, here," said Sarah Friedman, formerly of Greenwich, who now lives in Brooklyn. "It was important for me as a young person to be here."

She said it feels like the issue is sneaking up on a generation that's grown up with these rights.

There was a larger call to action Wednesday, which was also a very local need being met in communities where many people live at or below the poverty line. Planned Parenthood provides gynecological and other health care services to women who otherwise would not have access to it.

Judy Tabar, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood for Southern New England, talked about the work being carried out in clinics in Bridgeport and Stamford, and described the experience of a woman who recently visited the Bridgeport clinic, with her young son in tow, to get health care. While there, the staff helped her register for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the woman learned she was eligible for Medicare.

"So she didn't have to choose between paying for her birth control or putting food on the table," Tabar said. "She burst into tears."

The area's clinics see 70,000 patients a year. The nonprofit is run with money raised in various ways, including yesterday's fundraiser, tickets to which started at $275. An exact total was not available for the event, but an initial estimate from the organization said more than $400,000 was raised Wednesday.

While Weddington provided the keynote speech, Lizz Winstead served as master of ceremonies.

Winstead was a draw for the event in her own right. A comedian, writer and veteran of television and radio, she was the co-creator of The Daily Show on Comedy Central.

She told anecdotes about her own experience trying to start Air America and discovering all her friends "know someone really talented."

She was gracious when Weddington cut into her introductory remarks shifting gears and telling the crowd, the lawyer was a national treasure and a "hero, hero, hero."

But Winstead also drove home the point of how important Planned Parenthood is to young women today.

"I got pregnant the first time I had sex," Winstead said, adding a laugh-grabbing punch-line. "Because I had that good Catholic sex education."

But Winstead said the difference in her life was that she had not just a choice in the matter, but a place that supported her and asked her straightforward questions that weren't about trying to make her feel guilty or scare her into keeping the baby.

"I was able to terminate a pregnancy with dignity and without judgment," she said.